I don't believe in grading the draft because you need at least three years to do so. Even things like winners and losers of the draft is pointless because again, you need 3 years to determine. But I'd to look at several teams who I believe did well and made good picks. I'll even look at a couple of head scratchers as well.
I'll start with the Indianapolis Colts, who drafted Andrew Luck 1st overall, no shock there. They went heavy on offense in the draft, giving Luck plenty of weapons at his disposal as 8 of their 10 picks were on offense. They used the 2nd and 3rd round picks on tight ends: Coby Fleener, Luck's guy at Stanford, and Clemson's Dwayne Allen, who are the top tight ends in this draft as both Dallas Clark and Jacob Tammi, who followed Peyton Manning to Denver, are no longer on the team. Wide receiver T.Y. Hilton is a burner, but is small. You have a franchise QB hopefully for 10-15 years so you better surround him with talent right away as he tries to learn the game. The Washington Redskins gave up a lot to move up to #2 to take Robert Griffin III and it could very well be worth the gamble. Or so we think as the Redskins use a 4th round pick on Michigan State QB Kirk Cousins, who some feel can be a starter. Why would they do that? I know QB is the most important position in football and if something happens to Griffin, it's nice to have a starter. I know they have Cousins rated pretty high or else they wouldn't take him. But how can you take a guy who might compete for a starting job somewhere and have him be a backup to a guy who should be the starter? What about in training camp and preseason if Cousins outplays Griffin? The fans will be calling for Cousins. It reminds me of the 1994 Draft when Washington took Heath Shuler 3rd overall and Gus Frerotte in the 7th round and Frerotte eventually beat out Shuler as Shuler was a bust. Of course RG3 I don't think will be Shuler. It just doesn't make a ton of sense to me especially considering Cousins is a leader and wants to be a starter. You can't have two leaders at the QB position. But he is a 4th round pick for a reason, maybe he was over hyped and he'll either prove the critics right or wrong. This could eventually lead to a trade down the road, sort of like Atlanta a few years ago when the Falcons had both Mike Vick and Matt Schaub and traded Schaub for draft picks after he played well in a few games replacing an injured Vick. Maybe they trade Cousins, maybe they trade RG3? Trust me if RG3 is the guy, he will overcome this. If not, then the Redskins drafted the wrong guy.
Cleveland moved up one spot to take running back Trent Richardson, who they really liked and prevented Tampa Bay from moving up to grab him. Richardson can be an elite back and Cleveland needs all the help on offense they can get. But it doesn't excuse them from not being able to trade up for RG3. Then they take 28-year-old QB Brandon Weeden out of Oklahoma State 22nd overall. Weeden has talent despite his age, but he operates from the spread offense, which as we seen has not translated into much success in the NFL, IE Blaine Gabbert. They needed a wide receiver more than they needed OT Mitchell Swartz in the 2nd round, but that's what they believe they needed so they took him. Minnesota got 3 late round picks from the Browns to move down one spot to 4th to take USC OT Matt Kalil, who they were going to take anyway and got more picks because of it. Maybe the whole "we aren't taking Kalil 3rd overall" was just a smokescreen for some team to trade up. The Vikings need a left tackle to protect Christian Ponder. They addressed secondary help in safety Harrison Smith and cornerback Josh Robinson.
Tampa Bay missed out on a chance to grab Trent Richardson so they traded down with Jacksonville for their 4th round pick even though I thought they were going to get cornerback Morris Claiborne, who they needed. Well they thought they could get him at 7, but Dallas moves up in what was perhaps the move of the draft to take Claiborne as they need a corner very bad. I absolutely loved what Dallas did right there, they made a statement saying "our secondary is not good enough and need to improve." They play in a division with Eli Manning and Victor Cruz, Michael Vick and DeSean Jackson, and RG3 and Pierre Garcon. I believe the Cowboys are a corner away from making the playoffs as they blew five double digit leads last year. Tampa Bay selects safety Mark Barron, who they claim they were going to take anyways. If that's true then OK, decent move. He is a top-10 player. But if they really thought they'd wanted and would get Claiborne at 7, then shame on them. I did like the Bucs trading up in the late first round to get the running back that Greg Schiano wants in Boise State's Doug Martin. Outside linebacker Lavonte David seems to be a really good fit. Jacksonville took Justin Blackmon as they need to give Blaine Gabbert help in the passing game. They also added value in DE Andre Branch. But they made perhaps the worst move in the draft by drafting a punter, yes a punter, in the 3rd round in Bryan Anger. A punter is a position of not great need as the Raiders have had the best punter in the league with Shane Lechler, and look how they do. There's no need to take a punter anywhere in the top-4-5 rounds. They don't win you games, especially in a passing league. Jacksonville is a terrible team and should be going for it more on 4th down and punting less. Maybe they did this to sell tickets LOL.
St. Louis had a great draft that includes the trade in March from the Redskins for three 1st round picks plus trading down with Dallas for the 14th pick and more picks. They took defensive tackle Michael Brockers out of LSU, a position they need. They took WR Brian Quick in the 2nd round to give Sam Bradford a much needed target and very talented but troubled corner back Janoris Jenkins. The Rams believe Jeff Fisher could work with Jenkins in order to control him. If it works out, then it's a home run. Of course they thought that back in '05 when Tennessee took Adam "Pacman" Jones and that turned out to blow up in their face, but of course the Titans took him 5th overall. Even though top-10 picks aren't used on inside linebackers, the Carolina Panthers believe that Boston College's tackling machine Luke Kuechly is worth a top-10 spot. The 2nd wide receiver in the draft, Michael Floyd, was drafted 13th overall with the Arizona Cardinals and will team up with Larry Fitzgerald to give them a potent 1-2 receiving combination. Of course, the Cards don't have anyone to throw the football to them.
Miami finally got a quarterback after missing out on Peyton Manning, Matt Flynn, and Alex Smith. They took Ryan Tannehill 8th overall, which is a bit of a reach but the team believes he's a franchise guy and sometimes you have to reach early. Tannehill has the talent and ability, but is still pretty raw as he was a wide receiver at Texas A&M until midway through his junior year when he finally became the starting QB. Tannehill will probably have to sit a year or so and can sit behind Matt Moore, who was more than serviceable last year but not a franchise QB. That could be a problem though as you don't use an 8th overall pick for a guy to sit on the bench and get comfortable. That's my take. But the Dolphins shored up their offensive line by taking Stanford OT Jonathan Martin in the 2nd round. Another big QB prospect, and I mean big as in 6'8 Brock Osweiler went in the 2nd round with the Denver Broncos, who can afford to sit him a few years and learn behind Peyton Manning.
Teams like the Giants, Steelers, and Ravens had good drafts as usual. The Giants took Boise State running back David Wilson in the 1st round and wide receiver LSU Rueben Randle with the final pick of the 2nd round when he should have gone late 1st, early 2nd. The Steelers took the best guard in the draft in David DeCastro, who could be the best guard since Steve Hutchinson, in the 1st round and Ohio State tackle Mike Adams in the 2nd, who is very talented but failed marijuana tests as he tumbled from the 1st to 2nd round. The Steelers believe they can work on Adams and he can be a productive left tackle. The Ravens traded out of the 1st round and took Alabama's outside linebacker/defensive end Courtney Upshaw along with a couple of guards. The two teams with the two worst defenses statistically in the league in the New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers upgraded their defenses. The Patriots actually traded up in the 1st round to take Syracuse DE Chandler Jones and took Alabama inside linebacker Dont'a Hightower with the other 1st round pick. The Packers took OLB Nick Perry, DT Jerel Worthy, corner back Casey Hayward.
Now onto the teams who I liked are the Philadelphia Eagles and Cincinnati Bengals. The Eagles traded up for DT Fletcher Cox, the best DT prospect in the draft, ILB Mychal Kendricks, DE Vinny Curry, who has been considered a first round pick, QB Nick Foles for the future. The Bengals continue to do things right especially after last year's draft which featured AJ Green and Andy Dalton and the trading of Carson Palmer to Oakland for a 1st and 2nd round pick. The Bengals drafted Alabama cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick in the 1st round and traded down their 2nd 1st round pick to take guard Kevin Zeitler. In Kirkpatrick, the Bengals get a big, physical corner who can cover the best of receivers and could very well start on opening day. They also added DT Devon Still and receiver Mohamed Sanu.
Those who possibly reached were the Kansas City Chiefs, New York Jets, and Seattle Seahawks. The Chiefs did not take a QB whether it was trade up for Tannehill or taking Osweiler or Foles or Cousins in the 2nd or 3rd rounds. They drafted DT Dontari Poe 11th overall, who impressed everyone with his combine but has been known for his lack of passion and known for his laziness and poor work ethic. He was taken ahead of the better tackle prospect in Fletcher Cox. Speaking of another great athlete but work ethic issues, Quinton Coples taken in the 1st round by the Jets. On the plus side, the Jets did take wide receiver Stephen Hill in the 2nd round. The Seahawks were probably the biggest disappointments in the draft as they reached big time for West Virginia OLB Bruce Irvin. Irvin was considered to be a 2nd round pick and he went 15th overall. He has 1st round talent, but his dedication and off the field problems could make him a very high boom-or-bust prospect. The Seahawks reached for the 2nd year in a row, but they believe in this guy and we will see in a couple of years. The addition of ILB Bobby Wagner could turn out good. They made headlines in drafting Wisconsin QB Russell Wilson in the 3rd round, who has been projected in the 4th and 5th round. Wilson will be a backup at best to Matt Flynn and will have to compete for that. Wilson has talent, but his size, 5'10-11, keeps him perhaps from being a starter in this league. Maybe he'll overcome this and has the desire and character to do so. It does seem to be a reach for taking a 3rd round flyer on a potential backup, but again, they like him. Of course, they could have taken Kirk Cousins.
I will also bang on the New Orleans Saints and Oakland Raiders for their lack of picks. The Saints did lose a 2nd round pick in the bounty gate scandal but also traded a 1st last year for running back Mark Ingram, who didn't produce quite like a 1st rounder. The Raiders were even worse as they did not pick until late in the 3rd round. They gave up a 1st for Carson Palmer, a 2nd to the Patriots, and forfeited the 1st 3rd for taking Terrell Pryor in the supplemental draft. What a mess they are. Notable undrafted free agent signings include Boise State QB Kellen Moore to the Detroit Lions, Houston QB Case Keenum with the Houston Texans, Arizona State OLB Vontaze Burfict with the Bengals, and running back Chris Polk to the Eagles, who might be the best of the undrafted free agent class.
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